ENOCH'S WALK W ITH GOD Q. I have been impressed with Gene sis 5:2U: “ And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; fo r God took him.” I understand from Hebrews 11:5 that this means he was trans lated, taken to heaven without dying. My question is : just what did it mean for him to walk with God? He lived in the very early days of man and times were different then. A. This is a very interesting ques tion. It is true that Enoch was but “ the seventh from Adam” and times were different from ours in some re spects but not in the sinfulness of the human heart and disobedience to God. The first man bom of human parents on this earth—Cain—was a murderer, guilty o f the heinous crime o f fratricide. It is a miracle that Enoch lived such a godly life that he became a type of the rapture when all o f the living children of God will be caught up and thus es cape death-—to be forever with the Lord (I Thess. 4:13-18) at His re turn at the end o f this age. How did Enoch walk with God in his generation? Just as we must in ours; first to be in agreement with God. Read carefully II Cor. 6:14-18, remembering the question asked by Amos: “ Can two walk together, ex cept they be agreed ?” Second, a man must please God. We read in the pas sage from Hebrews which you quoted that this is exactly what Enoch did; He did what God wanted him to do and the Lord was pleased. Third, a man must live by faith. This also characterized Enoch. Fourth, a man must speak up for God. Enoch was far from being “ a secret believer.” We read in Jude 14 and 15: “ Enoch . . . . prophesied o f these [apostates] saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands o f his saints, to exe cute judgment upon all, and to con vince all that are ungodly among them o f all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and o f all their hard speeches which
ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” He preached the Second Com ing o f Christ. Enoch’s walk with God was a long one — three hundred and sixty-five years. He was the father of the man who lived longest, Methuselah, whose years were 969. The name Methuse lah means “ When he dies, it shall come to pass.” He was given as a sign that when he died, the flood would come upon that corrupt gen eration. Methuselah was 369 years old when Noah was bom and Noah was 600 years old when the flood came (Gen. 7 :11 )— so that the flood was sent in the year o f Methuselah’s death but not until after his death, as God had indicated. APPARENT DISCREPANCY Q. A teacher in a school has present ed Numbers 5:28, 39, US, U6 as proof that the Bible is inaccurate. It seems to me extremely minor but these things impress kids. Can you give me any kind o f explanation? I know that as given originally the Bible was absolutely without error but that when translators over the ages han dled the texts, some slight errors crept in and maybe this is one. A. Your attitude is the right one. However, if one goes into detailed study o f these so-called “ discrepan cies” almost without exception they are cleared up by a simple explana tion. We are indebted to Dr. Keil in this case, who suggests that the er ror of one letter occurred in copying the manuscripts. The insertion of one letter in verse 28 would change 8,600 to 8,300, since there is only a difference o f one letter in the conso nantal text between shish, “ six,” and shalosh “ three.” Verse 39 gave the total number of Levites as 22,000. At first sight this appears to be a round number (a device often used in the Word as in all other literature), since the three
divisions, 7,500, 8,600 and 6,200 give a total o f 22,300. It is clear, however, it is not a round number, but an ex act number, since verse 26 states that the total number of the first born, namely 22,273 (verse 43) is 273 more than the total number of Levites. This would present a seri ous problem were it not for Dr. Keil’s scholarly research as given above. FRIGHTENED DEMONS Q. Please explain James 2:19, “ The devils also believe, and tremble.” A. If you read the context, you will see that James, in writing to the man whose empty profession o f faith does not bear fruit, says, in sub stance, “ Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well or, [to para phrase, ‘so far so good’ ] : the devils [demons] also believe [that God is one], and tremble.” And why do they tremble ? Because they know that their doom is sealed, and that they will one day be cast into the lake of fire with the devil and all his wicked angels. Theirs is a head knowledge, but not a heart knowledge. The same might be said o f any human being who knows that there is one God, yet refuses the atoning work o f Christ on the cross. He trembles at the thought o f judgment unless satan has so blinded him that he has deceived him into a false sense o f security. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the demons recognized Him as “ the Holy One o f God.” On one occasion “ they cried out saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son o f God? art thou come hither to tor ment us before the time?” (Matt. 8 :29 ). Here they express a knowl edge o f certain doom. When the Lord Jesus “ suffered them not to speak” of Him as the Son o f God, it seems as though He would not receive this testimony from demons.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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